Nov 19, 2012

Cambodia - Asean solidarity seen in China row

PHNOM PENH — Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Sunday
projected a “palpable sense of solidarity” here as they sought to mend cracks
in relations caused by territorial rows with their giant neighbor to the north,
China.

A flu-stricken President Aquino
joined nine other Asean leaders at the opening of the 21st Asean Summit and
related summits, during which he took a firm but gentler tone in pushing for a
single Asean voice in the disputes with China over territories in the West Philippine
Sea (South China Sea).

In his address to fellow leaders
of the 10-nation bloc, Mr. Aquino said Asean was now one of the “few bright
spots in a world beset with uncertainty,” and that it must continue to engage
in constructive dialogue, strengthen its resolve, and reaffirm its respect for
international law, in particular, the United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea (Unclos).

The summit is being held
following months of acrimony within Asean over how to handle disputes with
China over conflicting claims to the strategically vital West Philippine Sea.

The maritime tensions are
expected to be high on the agenda, as well as at two days of expanded talks
starting Monday that will include US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier
Wen Jiabao.

“More than at any other time in
the history of our organization, unity has become the bedrock of our shared
progress,” Mr. Aquino said.

“And it is this same principle
that informs the imperatives that my country deems important to the further
development of our common goals,” he added.

Mr. Aquino, who appeared to be in
high spirits despite running a fever, went on to say the challenge now was for
Asean to sustain, and perhaps even accelerate, the gains it had made.

He reiterated the need for
maritime security and cooperation in ensuring freedom of navigation, in
combating piracy, and in maintaining peace and stability in the region.

The President said Asean’s
“Six-point Principles on the South China Sea,” an Indonesian initiative that
the bloc adopted after failing to issue a joint communiqué at the close of a
ministerial meeting here in July, manifested its collective vision founded on
the idea of Asean centrality.

After Asean foreign ministers met
in Phnom Penh on Saturday to prepare for their leaders’ events, the group’s
secretary general, Surin Pitsuwan, said Asean was determined to lower
diplomatic temperature with China.

“Both sides, all sides, are
committed to communicate … to the global community that things are under
control. We have differences but we can manage,” Surin told reporters.

As a confidence-building
mechanism, he said Asean would propose to China that a hotline be set up to
allow a direct line of communication in the event of incidents in disputed
waters.

Rival claims to the West
Philippine Sea have for decades made the waterways, home to some of the world’s
most important shipping lanes and believed to sit atop vast natural resources,
a potential military flash point.

China insists it has sovereign
rights to nearly all of the sea, including waters close to the coasts of its
Asean neighbors. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, as well as
Taiwan, also have claims to territories in the sea.

Tensions escalated this year amid
complaints by the Philippines and Vietnam that China was becoming increasingly
aggressive in staking its claim to the sea, including by employing bullying
diplomatic tactics.

From early April to mid-June,
Chinese and Philippine ships faced off with each other at Panatag Shoal
(Scarborough Shoal), a rich fishing ground within the Philippines’ exclusive
economic zone that China insisted was part of its territory.

In June, Vietnam got into an
altercation with China over a new maritime law that placed the Paracel Islands
under Vietnamese sovereignty. China garrisoned Woody Island, in the Paracels,
and built a new city there from which to administer the entire West Philippine
Sea.

The Philippines and Vietnam
wanted those specific run-ins with China in the sea mentioned in July’s joint
communiqué, but Cambodia, a close China ally, blocked their effort.

The meeting ended in disarray and
without a joint communiqué, the first time it happened in Asean’s 45-year
history.

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